bicycle.net -- cycling news, product reviews, original essays, podcasts & video :: Tour de France 2009

Team Slipstream comes to the 2008 Tour of California needing a strong showing to solidify their invitation to European monuments such as the tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and dare we say it . . . the Tour de France. They’ll bring a strong contingent to the race this year, with new signings David Miller, Tom Danielson, Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie. Also toeing the line will be Steven Cozza, a 22 year old Californian out of sunny Petaluma. Last year’s best young rider at the Tour of Missouri will don the blue and orange argyle for the first time in 2008 at the Tour of California, before heading over to Europe for the next three months.

Cozza is a promising rider brimming with potential, and he’ll look to lay the foundation for his 2008 campaign with a strong showing in California. Whether helping to protect the leader’s jersey or slipping into the right break, Cozza will play the opportunist throughout the eight day event. Cozza sat down with Bicycle.net this past weekend to talk about the upcoming Tour of California, his preparation for the event, and his 2008 schedule.

Cozza has been training daily out of Petaluma, riding many of the roads that the early part of the Tour will follow. He has trained extensively so as to be “race ready,” but he realizes that nothing can simulate the first day of competition. “You definitely have to do all you can to prepare your legs for racing,” he says between bites of a burrito at Pollo Loco in Petaluma. “It’s a real shock that first day. I noticed my form last year wasn’t really good until the third stage. The first couple of stages were just getting the cobwebs out, it took me awhile to feel like I was going fast. This year I’ve done more motor pacing, and those kinds of efforts tend get you ready that much faster.”

Cozza is extremely happy to be a part of team Slipstream. “I’ve always dreamed of being a professional cyclist, and now I’m on a team that definitely stands in the direction I want to stand. It’s a really good opportunity for all of us that want to make a difference, and it’s a cool being a part of that era in cycling. It’s a nice opportunity.”

And he plans to be ready for whatever tasks await him for this year’s Tour of California. He realizes that the team could presumably find themselves with the leader’s jersey after the prologue, and he will be ready to support his team mates should they succeed in winning the short race against the clock in Palo Alto. “If we get the leader’s jersey, I’ll definitely be a support rider, making sure the right break gets away and controlling the break, bringing it back.”

On the other hand, what if Slipstream doesn’t take the prologue? “If we don’t have the leader’s jersey, my role will be to be more aggressive and attacking more. Trying to mix things up and pretty much tire out the team that does have the leader’s jersey. Get in as many breaks as I can, just be really active.” Like most of the riders on the Slipstream team, Cozza will do whatever is best for the team, whatever will help secure the best results. Not that he doesn’t have his own ambitions.

His 2008 schedule is ambitious to say the least, as he explained. “I’ll start out in California and then fly straight over to Europe. From that point on, I’ll be in Europe till June starting with Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurn, Het-Volk, Tirreno-Adriatico, Three Days of De Panne, Tour of Flanders if we get in, maybe even Paris-Roubaix.” With a new season comes new hope and Cozza mirrors the positive attitude of all of team Slipstream. He, like all of the riders in the blue and orange argyle, will be one to watch in the 2008 Tour of California . . . and beyond.

For more on team Slipstream, Steven Cozza, and much more from the 2008 Tour of California, visit www.europeloton.com and check back here for frequent updates.